MOVIE REVIEW: Sing Street

Sing Street (2016)

Drama, Music

Directed By: John Carney

Sitting alone in the cool dark theater this morning I had expected to see a well crafted coming of age story about a boy and a girl who fall in love. What I was treated to instead was a powerful film about the virtue of family, both blood and not, and what creating art can do for a group of kids who had no idea what they wanted out of life until they met each other. Writer/director John Carney brought to life a story that understands that family, be it loving or abusive, is something no one can avoid and it is in how they handle that family that shapes who they are going be and how they are going to get there. 

The film is set in Dublin, Ireland sometime in the 1980's and centers on Cosmo (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and his slightly dysfunctional family. His parents fight often due to hard financial times and it is revealed early in the film that Cosmo is transferring schools because of those money issues. Although he rejects the idea at first this is where he would meet the people that would set him on the path to his future. One of those being a young girl named Raphina (Lucy Boynton) who is the driving force behind the creation of Cosmo's new band. With the help of his new friends and his older brothers adoration for music they form a band that is far better than any of them ever expected it to be, but is it enough to find Cosmo the heart of the mysterious girl from across the street?

Though Sing Street operates mostly as a basic coming of age story that sees our main character chasing his first love, it becomes so much more than that by the end of film. Once we've reached the ending and know where the story and these characters have gone it is clear that it was about far more than young love, it's about finding out who you really are and why you have become that. Cosmo isn't just changed by his feelings for this girl but also, and more importantly, by his relationships with his new friends and his brother who never really opened up to him about why his life took the path it did. 

This is where I felt my strongest connection to the film, I grew up in a large family and have a younger brother of my own so I found myself connecting to the older brother Brendan, played phenomenally by Jack Reynor. The growing relationship between the two of them throughout the story felt more real than anything else in the film. John Carney understands what a true sibling relationship looks and feels like and I believe this is one of the most realistic interpretations of that we have seen on the big screen in a long time. 

Music, or in a broader sense, art in general is used throughout the film to represent the relationships between Cosmo and each of the other characters. He is writing and creating the music in order to impress a girl he likes, while everyone he is playing with is simply there to play music with friends. Brendan uses his old record collection as an easy way to connect with his younger brother and pass on what little useful knowledge he has to help Cosmo succeed. Once he has immersed himself in the world of music, Cosmo then uses it to rebel against those who have oppressed him, like the headmaster at his new school. In every relationship formed within the film art is in some way used to represent what exactly that relationship means. 

Instead of just using a stacked soundtrack of classic rock songs to populate his film John Carney went the extra mile and had original songs written and performed throughout the movie to directly express the emotions of the story. Cosmo writes numerous songs to explain his growing relationship with Raphina while also creating songs out of anger towards his crumbling life at home and at school. This allows us to really get to know who these people are without being told the specifics of their past.

While Sing Street may not offer up any new twists or turns to the coming of age movie it takes something we already know and turns it into a story of love, passion, and family that anyone can connect too. With a diverse cast of characters that are well thought out and clearly formed throughout the film there is someone for everyone to connect to. For me, it was the older brother Brendan, for others it will be Rafina or Cosmo or any of the band members, or even the angry parents. We all have some kind of family that is directly attributed to who we are today, and this film understands that on a level we don't see often enough on screen.

As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!